{"id":559861,"date":"2026-08-05T15:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/559861\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:18:17","slug":"christchurch-medical-tech-company-secures-milestone-sale-of-ct-scanner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/559861\/","title":{"rendered":"Christchurch medical tech company secures milestone sale of CT scanner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Christchurch medical technology company Mars Bioimaging has secured the first clinical sale of its portable CT scanner, months after receiving US regulatory approval and raising $15 million to expand into the American market.<\/p>\n

The scanner has been sold to Christchurch-based Reform Radiology, marking a major commercial milestone for the company after years of development.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional hospital CT scanners, the MARS system is designed for specialist clinics and imaging centres.<\/p>\n

Small enough to be installed in consulting rooms, it allows patients to have hands, wrists and arms scanned at the point of care rather than being referred to a hospital radiology department.<\/p>\n

The scanner produces high-resolution 3D colour-enabled X-ray images of hands, wrists and arms. It received US Food and Drug Administration clearance in March.<\/p>\n

\"MARS<\/p>\n

An example of a scan with the system.<\/p>\n

Supplied<\/p>\n

Chief executive Dr Ojas Mahapatra said the technology was developed to help reduce delays for patients waiting for imaging.<\/p>\n

“What we want to do is when a patient comes in, they have access to high quality imaging at the clinic straight away,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mahapatra said the sale was a milestone in the company’s commercialisation journey.<\/p>\n

“We are very happy about that because it’s in our own backyard. It’s in Christchurch to Reform Radiology,” he said.<\/p>\n

Clinical customers were critical because they helped build the evidence needed for wider adoption by doctors and surgeons, he said.<\/p>\n

“Clinical markets, they need evidence … till a physician, a surgeon is using it for their patients, it doesn’t really get to mainstream marketplace.”<\/p>\n

Until now, Mars Bioimaging had sold scanners to research institutions, including physics and engineering laboratories, but Mahapatra said the clinical diagnostics market offered a more scalable commercial opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"MARS<\/p>\n

The company is now focused on expanding into the US.<\/p>\n

Supplied<\/p>\n

The first clinical sale caps a busy year for the company.<\/p>\n

It completed a $15 million fundraising round in January, followed by FDA clearance in March.<\/p>\n

The company is hiring sales staff in the United States and says generating revenue is now its primary focus.<\/p>\n

“The plan is to sell, sell, and sell, so revenue is number one on our list,” Mahapatra said.<\/p>\n

Despite the United States being its main target market, the scanners will continue to be manufactured in Christchurch using local manufacturing partner Argus Manutech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christchurch medical technology company Mars Bioimaging has secured the first clinical sale of its portable CT scanner, months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-559861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}